An unknown number of Belgian diplomats will have to leave, in retaliation for the expulsion of 21 Russian diplomats by Belgium, as well as 15 Dutch diplomats and four Austrians, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Belgian and Dutch diplomats must leave Russia within two weeks, while Austrian diplomats must do so by April 24, the ministry said in separate statements.
Russian diplomacy also specifies that it summoned the Luxembourg ambassador on Tuesday to strongly protest
against the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from that country.
Russia reserves the right to take retaliatory measures
to this eviction unfriendly and baseless
she added.
In a statement, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said to regret
this measure of Moscow. We will now see what are the consequences of the fact that so many colleagues have to leave Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Various measures against Moscow
In recent weeks, many other European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain have expelled dozens of Russian diplomats.
In some cases, these expulsions were officially supposed to respond to the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine by Russian forces and the abuses for which they are accused by Westerners. In other cases, they have been accompanied by accusations of espionage.
Moscow has promised, for its part, to respond to each of these measures. Dozens of other eviction announcements are therefore expected in the coming days.
